News & Stories
The first people to arrive at the outreach are often elderly villagers, mothers carrying children on their backs and men returning from the fields. One by one they make their way beneath the outreach tents where an entire healthcare system has been brought directly into their community.
For many, this is the first opportunity to receive comprehensive tuberculosis screening without travelling long distances to a health facility. What begins as a simple registration soon becomes a carefully coordinated journey through one of the most comprehensive community TB programmes in Lesotho.
Nthabiseng Mokone, a 27-year-old patient with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). After spending six months in inpatient care, Mokone recently reunited with her loved ones.
Less than a decade ago, most expectant mothers in Lesotho didn’t have the option to give birth at a health center. Instead, they delivered at home often without the help of health care workers.
Partners In Health (PIH) welcomes the news that Danaher Corporation will lower the price of its high-quality tuberculosis test cartridge, the Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra, by 20 percent and urges the Washington, DC-based conglomerate to do more.
Globally, tuberculosis [TB] cases and deaths spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic as health systems and medical workers diverted their attention to cope with unprecedented demand for care and treatment for the rapidly spreading infectious disease.
More often, PIH drivers take clinicians and other staff members to Lebakeng Health Center, one of seven small but vital sites offering comprehensive health care in Lesotho.
Itumeleng Nkhabu, a 48-year-old widow, contracted tuberculosis (TB) in 2003. Then again in 2011. That was not the last time she got sick.
Lesotho has the highest TB incidence globally with an estimated 654 cases per 100,000 for a population around 2 million.